Religion's Enlightenment: Review of Habermas's Also a History of Philosophy (original) (raw)
Related papers
In Discovering Religious History in the Modern Age Hans Kippenberg argues that the history of religions is the creative work-product of a cultural and political identity crisis, one in which the comparative history of religions became a means for some European scholars to uncouple from an increasingly halfhearted attachment to Christianity and re-experience their own history in a dynamic new form. A future for religion was thus found in the creation of innovative categories for the re-imagining of the past. For this reason Kippenberg rightly posits that the early scholars of religion are best read as " classical theorists of a modern age in which past religion still has a future " (xvi). We argue that the influential critical social theorist Jürgen Habermas, one of the most vocal proponents of the unfinished project of Enlightenment and the conceptual architect of postmetaphysical thinking, has much in common with these early scholars of religion. Keywords Jürgen Habermas – critical theory and religion – postmetaphysical thinking – political theology – religious history – religious language
Assestmen of Reason and Religion in Jurgen Habermas
In the emergence of secularization where man becomes godless and where life is just modus vivendi, a mere procedures and principles, or in other words, life is just for the sake of living and continuity, and where concern and love for human life is on threat, philosophy must do self-reflection.
At 86, Jürgen Habermas remains one of the most inf luential living social philosophers in the world. Since the 9/11 attacks, he has focused on the problem of religion in the public sphere and helped to popularize the term 'post-secularism'. Despite this recent shift in his work, religion has always been a theme in his complex critical theory. In this paper, I trace the ways in which Habermas has situated religion over the span of his career, including significant shifts, and the ways in which his theory has been taken up by others. In conclusion, I point toward some directions for future engagement with his work in the study of religions.
Jürgen Habermas and the Difficulties of Enlightenment
2012
This is the publisher's version of the article published in Social Research (1982). The version made available in Digital Common was supplied by the author and is included with permission from the publisher, The New School. The journal's website is .
História da Historiografia: International Journal of Theory and History of Historiography
This article, through a review of a portion of the relevant literature, problematizes the way in which the connection between the Enlightenment and religion has traditionally been explained, principally by a historiography excessively focused on the 18th century French experience. Alternatively, this article argues that “continuity,” rather than “rupture,” more adequately describes this relationship. However, continuity, as understood here, excludes neither tension nor transformation. If, on the one hand, the Enlightenment is much more akin to religion than has been previously recognized, on the other hand, it has to a great extent shaped modern understanding of religion. This revision of the relationship between the Enlightenment and religion suggests the need to rethink the very identity of the Enlightenment and the issue of secularization. The article uses as a guide the German debate surrounding the question, “What is the Enlightenment?” It concludes with an analysis of Kant’s f...
Habermas, the Jesuits and Religion: Notes on a Discussion about the Role of Religion in Society
2008
In 2007, a public panel discussion took place between Jurgen Habermas and professors of the Jesuit University in Munich about the place and importance of religion in and for the (post-) secular society. Habermas there explained that the relation between society and religion has its counterpart on a personal level as the relation between reason and faith. Habermas points out that practical reason can only understand itself, if it clarifies its relation to the religious consciousness. This paper attempts to articulate and clarify the form of this twofold relation.
Enlightenment and Religion: Rupture or Continuity?
História da Historiografia: International Journal of Theory and History of Historiography, 2020
This article, through a review of a portion of the relevant literature, problematizes the way in which the connection between the Enlightenment and religion has traditionally been explained, principally by a historiography excessively focused on the 18th century French experience. Alternatively, this article argues that "continuity," rather than "rupture," more adequately describes this relationship. However, continuity, as understood here, excludes neither tension nor transformation. If, on the one hand, the Enlightenment is much more akin to religion than has been previously recognized, on the other hand, it has to a great extent shaped modern understanding of religion. This revision of the relationship between the Enlightenment and religion suggests the need to rethink the very identity of the Enlightenment and the issue of secularization. The article uses as a guide the German debate surrounding the question, "What is the Enlightenment?" It concludes with an analysis of Kant's famous contribution to this debate.